IT...will hunt you

Fear. One of our primal instincts. And as crazy as it sounds it help us to survive. Thanks to our fears we can learn how to face them and become stronger, pushing us to develop new skills and face things that slow us down and can break us. We love, we laugh, we cherish, but for every one of  those we need to conquer a new fear, to be broken hearted, to fail, to die. Each one of us through time and our own experiences faces different kind of fears. It also comes by our unique personalities. Some will fear to something specif rather than others fearing something more global. Point is fear is in all of us and we face it every day as soon as we wake up and embrace a new day full of possibilities and challenges. So what if fear will hunt us and feed from us? The more we fear the more a pray we become. And that put a target on all of us, as we walk in life fearing at every single breath, even we are not always conscious about it. But only making it real and by being fully aware of it we can face it and conquer our fears. Who doesn't remember as a kid been afraid of dark? or a ghost or monster under the bed? and then we grew up and realize there's nothing to fear as most of that is not real, but then our fears evolve to other levels, like being afraid of getting sick, or be in an accident, or lose someone we love, and sometimes we carry those fears from childhood to adulthood in a subconscious way like fear of commitment because we grew up in the lack of it, or afraid to fail as we were raised under a strict regimen of perfection and high standards. All of them in different ways are fears that stick with us until we face them but if not can be the cause to bring us down and stay stock in the same place...again that will make us an easy prey for other that can sense that fear and use it in their advantage.

A terrifying idea of the later we can see now in the modern adaptation of one of the most popular novels from popular writer Stephen King, one of the best known authors in recent times yet not a favorite for everyone but one thing that most agreed on, this is one of his best and most popular novels that has become a classic already for the fans and it's genre. The novel in question is "IT", published in 1986, a horror novel that follows seven kids as they are hunted by a being that exploits their fears and phobias of it's victims while hunting them, and usually takes form of a clown to attract it's primal target: kids. The novel moves around two time periods, from the 60's to the 80's, where the same group of kids now as grown ups are pushed to go back to their hometown and face the same monster that terrified them as kids under a promise they made. So the pages take you back and forth to explore the lives of them when young to understand the man and women they've become and while all of them have moved around the world and taste their share of success, they are still haunted by that summer and all what happened to them, their families and the town of Derry, Maine, which becomes another character in the novel, because sometimes is hard to identify who's the real evil in the story, if a monster killing people to feed from their fears or is this troubled people living in this place who are so tormented that are able to feed and maintain a monster like that around. The truth is always put on a test from the readers perspective.

So now, moving forward to 2017, we get the film adaptation of the popular novel: "IT" (2017), as a motion picture has been divided and what we'll see this time is just all the events happening in one period time, now the late 80's, when the lucky seven or self called Losers Club, were just 13 year old kids having the worst summer of their lives. But at the same time, all these events could be the best thing that ever happen to them as it got them together and built a friendship that will be timeless but to get there might cost their lives as each one of them will face these monster while trying to mess with them and kill them. And so we meet and follow Bill, the leader and strongest of all, that is still mourning from the loss of his little brother Georgie after he went out to play in the rain by himself and he cant forgive himself for not going with him.  Eddie is his best friend, but as a frail asthmatic hypochondriac leaving under his over protected mother and fear to any possible disease. Beverly is the only girl and a tomboyish type which all the guys have a secret crush on but is mostly Bill and Ben the ones fighting for her heart and ignoring the rumors about her specially she coming from the poorest area in town and being abused by her father. Ben, the new kid in town, abused because being fat and like to spend his time in the library but also very handy because all his knowledge. Richie, the most lighthearted always making jokes and also known as trash mouth challenging his boredom into hyper-active wisecracking that will help them against IT. Stanley, the most skeptical, a Jewish boy that as a rational person is harder for him to believe that this is real and happening. And last, Mike, the last one to join the club, as an African american boy he feels an outsider and has been persecuted because his race by the troubled kids in town and that's how he met the club, when they came after him to help him.

While all of them try to be just kids and enjoy summer as normal kids playing around, each one of them will face their own fears to be able to survive this thing that seems to be hunting them and the entire town as people keep missing but no one seems to really care. On the contrary, everyone seems to be hiding something and trying just to survive on their own leaving their faith to these group that just found a clue of this mysterious clown that has been around since the town was built, showing up every 27 years and following the same pattern bringing disasters to the town. And they will try to stop it, because they won't let it to keep hurting other kids the way it already has hurt them all, and so they will embark in a search to hunt it before it hunts him. But it will fight back and will bring all their fears to break them apart and only that way kill each one of them one by one. But what it won't count with is the fact that some of them don't fear it anymore, making it weak and not able to feed from them so will have to use other resources like manipulating others to kill them for him. And so the story moves between a fantastic world and a realistic, bringing fears to live as something that can actually kill you, using them to expose our own nature as complex humans, capable of fearing and face it and conquer them to become stronger but at the same time making us vulnerable among others that will try to hurt us in order for them to face their own fears. How can we all leave in harmony if we all have troubles and challenges to face and if we really want to achieve and over come them, going through others might be the only answer?, Is this fair or should we keep finding other ways that might destroy us or work better?

While comparing the source material versus it's adaptations, including a mini series from 1990, that translated the whole book while this new one will do it in two movies, is hard to say which one is better or scarier. While the novel leaves a lot to the readers imagination, it focuses on it's characters exploring their fears and where they come from, while doing this exposing the town and it's people as the source of evil or just a consequence of the evil around them. We get to immerse into each character from his childhood to modern times to see how they over come their past and became successful yet haven't moved on from that curse that stands next to each one of them and this shape shiftier exposes the true nature of fear as a condiment to it's meal to feed from people to survive through a 27 year hibernation and bring out our own fears. The movie forgets about that suspense and trying to please modern audiences shows more than expected turning this creepy clown into a more cartoonish character that as the movie goes on, becomes less scary and more enjoyable as mystery to solve forgetting that is fear what we are talking about and what they are facing is an entity that might kill you rather than entertain you, and while this new adaptation has heart and works well with the characters making you want to spend more time with this club, is the reason why the film works better as a movie from the 80's where a group of kids face some challenges and get involve in some sort of adventures like movies as "E.T." (1982) and "The Goonies" (1985), rather than a new entry standing by it's own uniqueness and embracing itself a horror entry supposed to be scary and terrify you as you witness these events and takes you back to your childhood and all those fears that kept you wake all night, but at the end there is hope that you can do better and what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger as you'll notice as you walk out of the theater, if you dare to watch it.